Sunday, March 29, 2015

Ugh

Apologies for whatever happened with the photo upload last night. My browser at times shows issues when there are none, so I assumed that was it when the images didn't show for me.

Iliushechina/Moscovitch death spiral

I take it back - I don't think IM's placement really merits sarcasm, considering the death spiral was just gone. They frustrate me. To my surprise, Iliushechkina well and truly has her jumps, both of them, but it's like whack-a-mole. They nail one problem and then there's a weird outcrop somewhere else. I think I'm afraid it's a focus issue.

Still:

I thought Savchenko Szalkowy stalked their quad. Duhamel Radford frustrate me too. The calibre of Meagan's skating was well below that of Eric's at Worlds; but as their coach pretty much said, once you start getting pcs, you keep getting pcs. Every discipline in figure skating is turning into a nightmare.

And there's this:

There ya go, Angelika Krylova. You garbaged Virtue and Moir for nothing.

The fifth place Shibs weren't asked to skate in the gala, but I'm sort of curious if next season they start getting better scores while Weaver & Poje are thrown under the bus. I won't cry if that happens, and I sort of wonder if it might. They won't be able to touch Chock & Bates of course.

***

The skating season is over, and unless I plan to make once-a-month blog posts a standard pattern, it means I have to resume paying real attention again to whatever it is Virtue and Moir are doing to convince themselves (or whomever) that not only is interest in their relationship still a thing, but enough of a thing to protect themselves from whatever dozen ubers remain scattered around the internet still pretending not to believe Scott and Tessa are married with children.

And just as an aside, I think we can see that although the blog has been low-key this winter, it hasn’t deterred Virtue and Moir from shamming. The blog isn’t why they continued to sham after they’d led people to believe they were going to stop. The blog was just something they could point to after they’d already made the decision to keep shamming.

Every so often I check in with Jessica Dube’s facebook, and remember the weird atmosphere that emanated from images showing her shamming with Scott, the weird that made many fans wonder why Scott was dating a girl he obviously hated. Now I’m wondering if it wasn’t the situation that drove the weird, but rather if the three most visible participants (Scott, Tessa, Jessica) weren’t and aren’t just a trio of flat out freaks, the end.

Jessica's kind of scaring me. I had different visions of how she’d mature. Jessica's too young for a mid-life crisis, yet there it is. And I suppose that after this past summer and fall, I'm fearful of Tessa abandoning photo shop and going down that route for real.

****

Lately, while on the web, I’ve been diverted down a couple of rabbit holes that have distracted me from skating-centric topics, although one hole is skating-related in that I started by reading about the Darwin awards won by people who, with actions idiotic, end up removing themselves from the gene pool. It's always good to know that skating doesn't have a monopoly on stupid. One topic that caught my attention is bucket list adventuring, such as climbing the cables at Yosemite’s Half Dome. Yosemite has hosted many Darwin award winners and candidates.

The other rabbit hole started with me rewatching some classic 1930s-era movies and ended with some spelunking into Old Hollywood History, particularly the death of Paul Bern, original “Bombshell” Jean Harlow’s second husband.

After reading up, I’m convinced the mob did it, and I’m also convinced that no matter how much of a sweetheart she may have been one-on-one, Jean Harlow was shady (thanks to her family). MGM knew it, and compensated by telling us things like Rin Tin Tin died in her arms, and how she compassionately paid for a pretty headstone to adorn the grave of her suicidal late husband's coincidentally also suicidal common law wife (a stone actually paid for when the San Francisco municipality auctioned the woman's clothes).

Back in the day, MGM had mob-like attributes, in addition to associating with the actual mob, and joined forces with a powerful media entity, the mega news (tabloid) industry owned by William Randolph Hearst. In terms of control of its stars' images, MGM of that time was sort of what Debbi & Co. wished it could have been from around 2006 onward.

Example:

Jean Harlow and her
legendary love, William Powell.Notice he's actually holding his
own hands and hers is placed on top.

It's a party they're attending. Not his suicide.

When a guy out with his beloved routinely wears the expression of someone who wishes he were dead, crossed with the expression of a hired nursemaid taking a crazy aunt out for an airing, I think something's fishy.

I see other reasons for finding this fabled liaison dubious - including the two movies where they appeared together, movies in which William Powell can be found "shitting all over" Harlow (a quote from one of my fave movies, "Soapdish").*

William Powell (star of The Thin Man) and Jean Harlow were a relentlessly publicized, ambiguously defined relationship that played out in the fan magazines, including an event that displayed every hallmark of a publicity stunt - the gift of a boulder-sized star sapphire ring (that turned out to be cheap) purportedly bestowed by Powell, and worn by Harlow in a movie because we were told she couldn't bear to take it off. The relationship rivals Moir/Lawes in how it mysteriously and instantaneously burst into a full blown thing at the very beginning of Powell's employment contract, and it rivaled Dube/Moir in the joy the male half of the duo appeared to take in the pairing. When one timelines the fan magazine accounts of this love affair, their reports that the pairing appeared to have run its course occurred simultaneously with the looming end of Powell's first MGM contract, much like there was buzz it was over with Cassandra Hilborn before the woman had even left Sochi. Then, of course, Harlow died, and mythology took over.

If I'm right, and there's no real way to find out anymore, I always wonder why a guy would sign up for something like this, and its presumed benefits, even under pressure, but act out with that kind of sour puss. I don't know whether to admire it or tell him to man up.

It's sad how, in some ways, the handling of celebrity, the cross-pollination of celebrity with news, and the pattern of blaming and putting down the public, has changed so little between then and now, except for the not infrequent "mysterious" murders of the older era. I hope. Maybe it's cyclical. I hope we're reaching the tipping point with the all-news-is-celebrity-media approach we have today.

The past few months we've seen a general acknowledgment even from the media itself that there’s no such thing as news coverage. It’s all basically gossip columnists pretending something is news, trying to advance their own celebrity by flogging an agenda, kissing up to some connection, and condescending to the public by pre-empting its reaction. I don’t know where it goes from there. Instead of this conversation featuring mea culpas from anyone in the media, the media message mainly appears to be telling the public to get real and deal with it. I'm interested in seeing how the public side of social media processes this, and if it goes along with it as the acknowledged normal, as most media hopes, or if most media continues to become irrelevant, but thinks if it doesn't admit this, it can continue with the perks of being part of the media indefinitely.

P.S.

Excited for Papadakis & Cizeron's great finish
at Junior Worlds. Complex choreo,speed and power - those will come.

112.34 for a program and skating
with potential for maybe a nice top 10finish at Worlds 2007.(Compare it to Valse Triste.)

*On Soapdish, the Elizabeth Shue character was ignoring the Sally Field character in what was meant to be a heartfelt scene. It means ignoring your scene partner, acting past them, at them, ducking eye contact. With Powell's technical arsenal, he never once needed to actually connect, and he didn't. He navigated past Harlow. For a real life contemporary example, see Scott Moir at WCC vis a vis Jessica in 2009. Powell was as obviously intentional about it as Scott. For a more instinctive example, see Charlie White every time he competed.

And here I thought Nicky Slater was a moron . The German Eurosport commentators praised PC for being slow on the ice compared to the North Americans who were always too fast and hasty. Slow skating is the epitome of ice dancing now ! They also called PC THE perfect ice dance couple that will revolutionise ice dance and influence the sport like Torvill/Dean did ( they used to say the same about VM until they changed their minds over night at worlds 2013, favored DW and criticised Carmen for being a robotic placeholder program ! ).I have no words for this ...

Oh, very clever! As with D/W ubers - your team won, why do you care what we think? Because you got your V/M talking points from here?

P/I's twizzles were a bit off, but their execution was superior to P/C in pretty much every way. If we're talking about a twizzle mistake, P/I are the ones* with the cushion to absorb it, not P/C. Cleaner skating, more power, better lines, sharper movements, tidier & difficult lifts, smoother holds and closer together, an even workload, transitions with more substance.

*in a matchup between P/C and P/I, not saying P/I should have won

People will continue to discount P/I as long as they hate the superficial artistic similarity to V/M and are bored by technique when a team is too dull for their tastes. That people are fooled by P/C's skating is depressing. The content is lacking, the skating is effortful. Transparently so.

P/C's twizzle mistake would be an issue even if they were awesome and deserving of the win because of the obscene score. But it's even more relevant because it was a mistake on top of their other weaknesses that exist throughout the program. [Why did V/M fans point to D/W's out of sync twizzles when the whole of their program had problems? It's especially visible, that's why.] It's obvious that OC isn't picking out their twizzle mistake and saying that's the reason they shouldn't have won.

P/I's biggest problem (other than politics) is that they skate small, something that's very noticeable when you see them live. It means their programs have less of an impact, which then makes their elements and program content look less impressive. That's not how it should work, obviously, but the excitement factor plays a big role in how teams are judged.

PC don't skate big, and they skate very slowly, and, unlike with P/I, their programs lack complexity. They have soft knees but how deep are the edges when their gliding lacks power? Look past the constantly waving, flowy arms at the quality - or lack of - direction changes and hold changes. He pulls her along, waves his arms, she turns, the end. Over and over. The elements themselves are practically juvenile.

2:02, P/I's skating was better and their choreography was more complex.They're not the only ones at this competition who are better than a junior-ish dance team elevated to the World Championship. It's astonishing how this World championship potential was not perceived by some of the skating commentariat at the start of the season. I don't believe they were even considered podium contenders. They were in the mix and could possibly get a piece of it if the chips fell the right way.

The people who comment on skating now need to be shown what the scores are going to be and then they'll back track and re-evaluate upwards the very same skills and skating they'd previously assessed as mid-pack.

4:44 - correct, dear God. If I weren't jaded by now I'd be dumbfounded that such a weak, slow, simplistic program skated weakly and slowly produced a world champion. And by "simplistic" I mean simple, repetitive holds and small turns, NO power, and Papadakis trailing Cizeron like a banner. You could also get seasick from the rocking of the bodies and the waving arms.

" People will continue to discount P/I as long as they hate the superficial artistic similarity to V/M "

I always hated how much P/I tried to look like V/M because it didn't do them any favors but I thought their FD at worlds was the first time they tried to break out of that mold. Especialy Alex finally came across like herself instead of a poor man's Tessa copy.

12:21I don't agree P/I were trying to copy V/M. The classic balletic style IS also their style. It's not a style that belongs only to one particular team.

The judges are not to dock points based on a style, or if they think a style is being copied (which they were not, it's just them). P/I have wonderful edges, technique, flow, lifts. Everything the rule book says should get high scores. They're not getting the scores or the recognition they deserve for outstanding skating because of corruption, not because of deficiencies in their skating.

Anon 6:28 , totally agree. If P/I had skated an FD similar to P/C's, it would be deemed boring. But because P/C are French and coached by D/L, it's being heralded as the greatest FD ever, when it actually really sucks, skating-wise.

V/M, P/I, Shibs and Hub/Du have all skated lyrical programs, with much more difficult content and better skating skills, but FSU thinks they all suck because they are boring/choreographed by Marina/don't have choreographic intent according to MarieM/whatever bullshit-non-skating-related reason.

How annoying, all the fans heralding P/C as the best thing since sliced bread, when they've barely started their senior run. Talk to me after the quad is over, *then* we can properly assess if they belong with the list of the best in ice dance. We had two whole quads, two Olympics with the Canadians. It's one thing to want to be different from V/M, P/B etc. stylistically (as P/C have said), but good technique is a whole different animal. And this young French team have miles to go before matching V/M's mastery.

It feels so much like everyone - fans, commentators, coaches - are trying to avoid the topic of exactly what VM brought to the sport. They're lumped in with DW and talked about being "in the past" as if it all means nothing. It's all conveniently swept under the rug.

No one wants to go there. It would expose the great ice dance sham of the last quad.

" The relationship rivals Moir/Lawes in how it mysteriously and instantaneously burst into a full blown thing at the very beginning of Powell's employment contract, and it rivaled Dube/Moir in the joy the male half of the duo appeared to take in the pairing." One consequence of the sham spamming on Twitter lately is that the fans fight back by filling their feeds with nostalgic VM spam (seeing as they can't talk publicly about what a crock of shit Lawes/Moir is) and it's laughable how painfully clear it is that this guy is not in love - at least not with Curler Girl. Scott lights up with only one woman - his wife.

3:19.Please. VM have practically lived out of a suitcase since their young teen years. Flying anywhere in the world for a few days - for any reason - is nothing to them. This fact in and of itself is insignificant when it comes to VM.

Scott's excited behavior (not) cheering on his love is a much better indication of his real feelings.

I will also add that taking Mom and cousin Cara to the scotties' competition is another indicator of the real status of this pair of lovers. Anyone following this saga since the beginning knows what "Alma and Cara" means when it comes to Scott's love-life.

Scott has always been supportive of other athletes and in the past has been a leader for the the Canadian skaters. In the past - there have been interviews where it looks like he has been annoyed or frustrated about the dating question etc and that he would have preferred sometimes to be just Scott Moir. And vice versa - that Tessa Virtue should be an individual. Fast forward post Sochi - it appears per social media that Tessa is doing her thing. Scott on the other hand - well you wouldn't know that he has individual interests. I am not saying that Scott needs to map out his life for us - it's a work in progress but instead of Scott being an individual - it's like Scott and Kaitlyn. I don't doubt that KLawes will be in Scotland for the goldmedalplates vacation - which is fine - but pre-Sochi - her personal life on social media was on the down low. Why the change? And why did Jill Officer feel the need to tweet that Scott was Klawes bf?

Did Jill Officer really tweet that? I feel like the blog has been falling down in its mission, which was to point out what they were doing and the inferences we were meant to take away. Glad others are connecting the dots.

They've always done it like this. Tessa is off doing her thing, being the special snowflake she's always been, while Scott has himself out there only as the guy with the GF who is not Tessa. Scott is a man who has a WIFE who is Tessa, and he has children with her.

They are too special for us to "know" even in the non-knowing way fans know celebrities. It's a prviate thing for Scott, Tessa and a bajillion groupies, acquaintances, overly invested community members and extended family. And media. Very precious. That's why they need to lie.

3:19 you better believe that Scott and Tessa both have other business in Japan besides watching curling matches, and even if Tessa IS home, and there isn't a reason on earth we should believe anything she says without outside corroboration, there is still a non-Kaitlyn reason Scott's in Japan. That's how they've always done it.

I will, though, remember Jill Officer's efforts on her teammate's behalf in this matter. All of these people are angling for opportunities to pitch themselves to the public and raise their profile while they're scamming the public.

Jill Officer was answering fan questions on the Curling Canada twitter account and she picked a question about Kaitlyn's dating life among many other questions she could have answered. This when KL had never actually said she was dating Scott.

Very reminiscent of Skatebuzz answering a fan question asking if Scott and Jessica were an item, back in 2008. You'd think they would let the actual people involved announce it when they're ready, but no, that's not how Scott's relationships roll.

Scott and Tessa have gone through two Olympic cycles lying about their actual relationship, when everybody who knew them was given to understand they'd come clean about it once their Olympic career was done. What does he do the instant Sochi is over but dump the home town fake and hire himself out as the bf of an Olympic curler headed to 2018. How can they come clean now!

I really wonder why it is Kaitlyn Lawes needs a fake bf. Obviously the entire curling team is energetically self-publicizing, but after she won gold, Kaitlyn needed a beard (and I don't mean that in the conventional sense, because I don't know).

Just looking at this, skating has become such a fucking cheap racket since Vancouver. It's the reality show of sport, the people IN the sport are embracing it, nobody gives a shit about the skating, not even those who are doing the skating, and not even those who worked their entire lives to become the best skaters. It's now just a racket for wannabes in the entertainment media to market themselves. It's another low rent platform.

It's sloppy, but they've always been sloppy. Why is Kaitlyn doing this? She represents a wonderful excuse for Scott and Tessa to "hug a bad decision harder" but what's her story? Scott had more of a public profile than Digby and she, as well as her entire team, see the Moir affiliation as a way to get more social media exposure?

Unless she's gay, and that would be pathetic, considering her and her teams posturing about Anabelle Bucsis, Kaitlyn Lawes and DJ Kidby didn't have the type of profie as a couple, not even after gold, for even the most delusional athlete to pretend her relationship needed protection from public scrutiny. The Scott/Tessa rationale wasn't available to her.

It appears to me as if they're using Scott's somewhat greater general celebrity on social media to promote the entire curling team, bait the non-curling audience into wondering what the curling team is up to, and Kidby wouldn't cut it, and the other curlers are married, OR it's a bearding situation, which if it's is, it's pitiful. Oh, I want to be famous and raise my profile - I need a beard! A famouser beard than me!

I love how it's been 3 years since Jessica and Scott "split" and she hasn't had a date since. She paraded her "love life" with Scott on social media for years, even when her facebook was shut down it got dragged through the Main Street of her facebook profile. Same with Cassandra. From the day this passionate romance appeared out of the blue, proving to Cassandra that magic was possible, she highlighted it on social media. She's another whose taken a vow of celibacy since it ended. Scott must be carrying more firepower than those velour skate pants would suggest. What's the point of dating if you can't date Scott?

BTW, though, I love how TSN is partnering with VM and the curling team in this venture. That's what it is. Isn't it great? Hoaxing the public is an actual marketing endeavor, with media agreements and everything.

OC @ 6:18. That is one of the biggest mysteries to me. The cooperation and collusion of established, credible media organizations. This is not just some celebrity athletes who wish to keep the real relationships on the dl. A review of the history of this thing can't help but feel like there's something much bigger going on. What that could possibly be, I have no idea.

Duhamel gives me this vibe of disdain towards the artistic side of skating, probably stemming from a complex of not being what you'd call a classical pairs skater in either body shape or performance style. There's this undercurrent of contempt for all that Canadian PC-ness.

OC, have you seen Tara Lipinski's new website (http://essentiallytara.com/) ? Reminds me a little of Paltrow's GOOP and Blake Lively's 'Preserve'. I can totally see Tessa doing something like this -- heck, she's sort of doing a little of it already. Fashionable, style-savvy white girl living it up, aspirational instagram/pinterest/magazine shoot lifestyle -- that's right up Tessa's alley.

Ahahahahaha. I'm trying (and failing) to imagine her winning and going on to compete in the Miss Universe pageant. Honestly, she'd look so bland beside the other women. The Latin American ladies alone would eat her for breakfast. I sense no stage presence from her whatsoever, but then again, my exposure to her has been limited to those vague model-esque shots and the show with VM. She has no chance -- she doesn't look like what Trump would deem beauty queen material.

Of course there'd be no mention of her acting debut. She's relegated to arm candy there. Also, she pales compared to Tessa on the show, not a good idea for people to focus on another girl (even if that show is about that other girl and Scott).

2:53 -- No need to mention the acting debut in her bio. She accepts everyone as facebook and instagram friends, where her relationship with the Olympian Scott Moir is prominently displayed, especially facebook.

That added, *special* attribute of having dated/slept with Scott Moir is still part of her bio. Any minimal amount of digging will bring that up and CH is probably banking on that fact. IMO she is most definitely using that connection to help launch this new endeavor.

Oh look. Another blog critic who didn't bother reading the blog. Making up fanfiction about this place,and dogmatically claiming to know all about blogger/the blog. Apparently the tumbler readers will accept those viewpoints without bothering to investigate for themselves.

Just finished watching The Skating Lesson's ice dance wrap-up of Worlds; former US champions Liz Punsalan and Jerod Swallow were the guests. Basically, you have two former ice dancers telling the audience nothing about technique or skating skills, and salivating over bullshit like connection and "skating with abandon". They conceded that P/I and the Shibs have great edges and overall skills, but, psssh, they don't skate with abandon like the French team. Weaver/Poje can also up the connection or some other gibberish.

Seriously, in what other sport would this kind "analysis" pass as legit? Fuck, I hate this "sport".

i watched Pap/Ciz on mute, just looking at feet and dance hold. their "lifts" are so infantile no point in mentioning. I honestly thought I was watching a junior team. I really believe that davis and white were better than Pap/Ciz.

Option C. For who knows what reason, it appears they've adopted VM's sham playbook. Watching this play out the last couple of weeks has been remarkable. Time lines presented become implausible if you go back and look at things and things are happening the exact same way things happen with VM's sham.

I'm inclined to agree with you. But it just looks like your garden variety skating sham at the moment, nothing wrong with that. They'd need to seriously up the ante to get to VM's level and I don't see that happening.

6:24. Why sham at all when they were already a public couple? Where's the sense?

Of course, I do realize if any couple decides to sham, there is no sense to it. However, I fail to see any reason for HD to sham.

When VM began, they were very young and there was the excuse they didn't want their true relationship to be known. It's anyone's guess why the hell they continue at their advanced ages. By now - who the damn cares about the personal lives of two adults.

Same thing with HD. Who the hell gives a damn if they date each other or not. Where's a reason for shamming?

What would be the point? No one cares about HD, they're never going to be USA #1 or win a World medal. They don't have special attention from the media or pressure/expectations for the next Olympics. They're already older than VM were in Vancouver.

Unless Adria needs a beard or something. Which still doesn't make sense because HD's relationship is so public.

I feel like the shamming that goes on in the figure skating world is mostly directed at the very gossipy and invasive skating community. HD are nationals medalists, top 10 in the world; they're relatively big fish in a small pond and they may have decided they wanted more privacy.

Of course the split could be real but it's certainly ringing all the sham alarm bells for me.

I think they have broken up, there's no reason to hide it. I just cannot understand when they broke up because they posted such lovey dovey stuff all the way up until Madison announced she was Adria's "valentine" on IG.

I went looking at the photos and posts going back a while. Everything normal /coupley until that valentine IG. After that it smells just like VM. A platonic couple who are (still) lovey dovey. No apparent issues between dumped partner/BF and new BF. Zach's Mom getting in on it by going more OTT than seems habitual for her about her son's visit *alone* and finding him *special friends* to hang out with. Oh, and a weird twist. Zach has been liking girly photos on IG. Why are they so anxious to show he's not thinking about Madison? But he's still lovey dovey with her, that aspect didn't change at all.

ICK. shades of VM. Are they, are they not? (shrug) But I can see why the public-domain stuff is looking like sham.

Well, a little discretion would have been a good option. Madi apparently doesn't agree. I'd say the only acting going on here is Zach pretending to be okay with his ex and her new man. Guess he doesn't have another choice really if he wants to try for the Olympics.

This is probably just giving attention to HD's sham, but I want to lay this out anyway.

The real start to this was a photo Madison posted on instagram on Valentine's Day of red roses and which Adria Diaz is thanked.

If you go back to the day before on FSU, a big fan of HD who is the one who always posts all of the videos, photos in their thread--and I don't think this fan is involved--posted the link to a USFS Valentine's Day video with HD. The video was also retweeted by Zach when it was posted by USFS. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcnMwW3T12s&feature=youtu.be After the video was posted on FSU on February 13, the very next post was from someone who is associated with HD and the DSC teams saying that Madi will get her wish, Zach not so much. One of Madison's wishes was flowers. Now, the last two years, she has gotten red roses from Zach for either Valentine's Day or her birthday. The flowers were on Instagram, so anyone paying attention to the team is now expecting flowers to show up the next day and for them to appear on social media. Lo and behold, the next afternoon on Valentine's Day, Madison puts a photo of the roses on instagram and tweets a link. I was online when the photo of the flowers was first posted. Adria was not tagged in them at first. It was later that the tag was added. I was confused, but figured it was a mistake in tagging or an inside joke because HD had been their normal selves at nationals, etc. A couple of weeks pass into March and there are a few tumblr anonymous asks about the flowers, and again, the people answering think as I did that it's just a joke or something. And HD are continuing to appear as always in things related to the Frenchie Skate show, Zach going home with Madison on the weekends, etc. In the google hangout chat before worlds, Zach even calls her love and Madison talks about wanting to skate while Zach is singing (because it makes total sense for someone to skate while their ex-bf is singing?).

A few days before worlds departure in the TSL worlds preview, Dave and Jenny say that they want to set Zach up with Alissa Cizney. FSU being FSU jumps to the conclusion that HD must have obviously broken up and someone else known to hate the team, Tanithandbenfan, keeps insisting that Madison is dating Adria because of the photo on instagram of the flowers. Someone else associated with the team, UMBS Go Blue, comes into the TSL thread and says that Dave and Jenny didn't say HD were broken up, they were just saying they thought Zach and Alissa would look good together or something like that.

The day before they leave for worlds, the DSC posts a photo of a luncheon for their worlds competitors and Zach has his hand on Madison's shoulder. The next day, he instagrams a cute photo of them on the plane before they take off. A fan posts a video of one of their early FD practices in Shanghai. HD are acting as they always do, and even look to kiss at the end of the runthrough. In the K&C for the SD, Madison has her hand resting on Zach's upper inner thigh, which is even more ballsy than anything Tessa has tried on camera. All appears well with HD except their PCS and GOE.

Things get going on tumblr again. Someone tags some gifs of Zach with the Montreal skaters saying that Madi is dating Adria and maybe he can dating Gabriella now. There's an anonymous ask pointing out HD's behavior with each other at the event, and the reply is that someone had told the owner of the tumblr that Madison had been dating Adria since before Christmas.

Another anonymous tumblr post appears saying that Madi is with Adria now and very open about it. She goes to Montreal to visit and brings him home to her family. That it looks like HD broke up between SC and Christmas and the stress of the last two years with the injuries just must have been too much.

And if you're paying attention at all, just like with VM, that anonymous comment is a bunch of bullshit.

Zach spends Thanksgiving with Madi's family. They go out to a movie after dinner.

December 1, they leave for Golden Spin in Croatia, but not before Madison can post that she and Zach are sharing their breath, lives, and passion. https://instagram.com/p/wEljAhBdgP/

Spanish HD are at Golden Spin too. The two teams hang out together the night before American HD leave for home. So, is everyone so chill that Zach is 100% cool with hanging out with his new ex-gf who was his world just 10 days before and her new bf? https://instagram.com/p/wRdVRyBdhl/

American HD flew home on December 7. They spent a couple of days down (video of Zach trying to break in new skates), then spent 3 long days working with a choreographer to make changes to their SD, December 10-12. Meanwhile, Spanish HD are still in Europe. They're involved in press for the GPF in Barcelona and skate in the GPF Gala on December 14. Then, they're off from there to Spanish nationals, and from Spanish nationals, they're off to do a few gala shows in the days leading right up to Christmas. They don't return to North American until after the holidays.

The weekend of December 20 and 21, there's a photo somewhere on tumblr of both Madison and Zach out Christmas shopping with another ice dancers from the DSC. Then, Zach goes to the Hubbells for Christmas.

Unless it happened in an alternate dimension of time, there's no way that the proposed timeline of American HD splitting off ice between SC and Christmas and for Madison to have started dating Adria before Christmas to work.

"Unless it happened in an alternate dimension of time, there's no way that the proposed timeline of American HD splitting off ice between SC and Christmas and for Madison to have started dating Adria before Christmas to work."

They had a sudden, uncontrollable burst of passion in the several weeks between US Nationals and Valentine's.

Just like 13-yr-old middle schoolers.

Oh wait. Just like Scott Moir and his switching from one GF to another. Just like that. Blink, and they're dating another (just as passionately, hot&heavy, committed, almost-married as the last SO).Bwahahahahaha

Since the first of the year, most every weekend, you can put Madison in Detroit with Zach (or together at nationals), or together at her parents house in Ohio. In an icenetwork article, they mention having a nice new year's dinner at Madi's. (Because you always want to have a nice New Year's Dinner with your recent ex-gf who is already seeing someone else?) There is nothing in their behavior with each other to indicate that anything has changed. There is one photo showing Madi and Adria with her brother keiffer at the yoga studio Keiffer teaches at. Maybe there's something there. Also in this time, on January 17, Zach tags Adria to do an action shot challenge. He's going to tag the guy he just lost his significant other of 3 years to? Really? https://instagram.com/p/x9t6bBg5N0/?taken-by=zachtdonohue

I've covered the social media, skating board, and tsl stuff leading into worlds. At worlds, there's a clip of Zach acting like he's super emo and depressed while watching Javi F's SP with Spanish HD and one of the Chinese ice dancers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-MRB0qYgHc

Really, he looks like the saddest man who ever lived. In reality, if you're that depressed, you're not going to be at the SP or if you are, you're not sitting with that group with your ex-gf and her new bf. Curiously, there's a tweet from Doug Mattis, also associated with HD, asking Zach, not Zach and Madison, if he was at the mens' SP, which is the same segment that video came from.

https://twitter.com/DougMattis/status/581400415331192832

As worlds wraps up, Zach's mom takes to facebook with a megaphone to announce that Zach is coming home by himself. Tuesday, she just posts stuff about Zach spending the day with his nephew. Wednesday, they start channeling Moirville. First, she posts a photo of Zach with some girl and captions it "Getting together with wonderful friends, a great way to spend some time at home." A family friend shares the post, I think it's the mother of the girl, and when you go to her page, you find a post with this in it. "I have had the best day ev-ah!! First I met Dee Willis and Zach Donohue (Zach just home from a 10th place finish at World Championships in Ice Dance - CONGRATS) at Feng. Jillian joined us. (YAY!) She and Zach renewed their friendship by picking right up where they left off.... as only the best of friends can do."

There are currently three comments on the photo. Two are from Zach's aunts. "Love the pic and the smiles!!" "Not sure who Jillian is, but you all look great!"

The third is from a girl who is a big fan of HD and all of the DSC teams in general. "Madison so fond of sushi is not with you ??"

No answer to that yet, but up next in all of this will be photos trying to place Madison with Adria FAR FAR AWAY FROM ZACH, although I'd bet the girl is really in Connecticut right now. Also, now that fans are asking questions, they'll feign privacy and lock all the posts up.

This may be new to HD, but patterns are patterns and we know this playbook well here.

I know a lot of shamming goes on in the world, but I'm of the mind that just because a lot of people do it, it doesn't make it right. I've been a fan of HD since the early days of their partnership, but I had come to have a lot of respect for them in how they didn't hide their relationship, but didn't OTT flaunt it like we've seen with some. This was especially in light of VM. Hopefully, this never gets as bad as VM. I also have to say that although shamming is apparently a somewhat common thing, I am very disappointed in HD for going down this route. It's like you expect a bad kid to do bad things and if the good kid does something bad, you get mad. I expect this kind of thing from VM. I did not expect this out of HD.

As for reasons to do this, maybe it is trying to refocus the narrative. Maybe Adria and Keiffer are dating and Madison is bearding to help them. Maybe HD want more privacy. Remember how when VM say they're not dating, it is the truth because they're married. I'm wondering if it's about to be that HD will be telling the truth if they're asked if they're dating and say no for the same reason VM can say they're not dating and it not be a lie.

I'll fess up I did some cyberstalking myself. Here's a couple of things. For Madison's birthday, the official HD FB posted a message congratulating her, and fans wrote messages to do the same. There was one woman who wrote "Happy Bday & everyday Madi from the lady you impressed with your loving nature & humbleness, on the flight coming to Montreal !" As far as I know HD has had no competitions or shows in that area, but Adria lives there.

After TEB I noticed that Madison would like every IG pic that had anything to do with Hurtado/Diaz. At the time I just thought it was all about the new friendship between the Montreal teams and HD. After the VDay thing I looked at who they were following and noticed that Madison had started following Adria's sister. Adria in turn was following Madi's mother's IG and FB. Recently I noticed that one of Madi's aunts who used to comment a lot on Zach's account is also following Adria on IG and FB.

There's pictures of team USA and team Montreal sightseeing together in Shanghai and Madi is always close to Adria, not Zach. Also there's a couple of official group pics of team USA at the banquet, Zach appears in one and is nowhere to be found on the other one.

Madi has pretty much retreated from social media but still takes time to like Adria's random posts on FB. She left this comment for his new profile pic: Madison Hubbell Eiiii haha (kiss emoji) March 10 19:55 · 1

Before Worlds HD were part of the Google Hangouts, video interviews, that USFS conducted with Team USA and it was odd that they were in different locations as opposed to being together at either Madi or Zach's apartment.

I don't think they are faking being broken up. I think they're trying to make it look like nothing has changed afterwards, and it would be okay if all you noticed was just a transition from romantic to platonic. The Adria timeline is what turns everything upside down. I've wondered if Zach was the one who suddenly broke it off with Madison. Therefore, he now has no right to react when she decides to jump into a new relationship overnight, and that's how we get the kumbaya situation where they're all "friends."

We also know that stuff like that gets planted for the VM sham, and this is following the same playbook, so wouldn't they be out planting stuff like that too? We know it's easy to drop a comment or a tweet, arrange for people to follow and unfollow each other on social media, etc. All the Je taime's from Jess and Scott? They're going to plot out for family members to follow each other, etc.

There are pictures of Scott sightseeing at competitions standing with his fake gf and not Tessa. This stuff is easy to stage and post.

"Before Worlds HD were part of the Google Hangouts, video interviews, that USFS conducted with Team USA and it was odd that they were in different locations as opposed to being together at either Madi or Zach's apartment"

Not odd when you know that HD have never lived together, both come from religious families, and the time of day the hangout took place.

Both HD's have the same agent, David Baden. All of his teams and skaters are always liking each other's pics on instagram.

You're following the shammy breadcrumbs they put out. It's like following the shammy breadcrumbs that VM put out. Don't do that.

"For Madison's birthday, the official HD FB posted a message congratulating her, and fans wrote messages to do the same. There was one woman who wrote "Happy Bday & everyday Madi from the lady you impressed with your loving nature & humbleness, on the flight coming to Montreal !" As far as I know HD has had no competitions or shows in that area, but Adria lives there."

The woman who left that comment had left 7 previous comments on posts on HD's facebook page. The first was December 8, 2014. If you check the woman's on timeline, she posted this on December 9. https://www.facebook.com/randa.babili/posts/10152943935643643

"The awesome champion whom I met on the airplane." HD had just won Golden Spin in Zagreb. HD flew home on December 7--Zach posted a photo on instagram of some pastries he'd bought in the airport in France and he tagged Madison in it. Ergo, this woman didn't met Madison when she was flying off to Montreal from Detroit. The woman met Madison when she and Zach were flying home from Zagreb. Remember, later that week, American HD spent 3 day working with their choreographer to revise their SD and Spanish HD were still in Europe to appear in the gala at the GPF, then go to Spanish nationals, and then do Christmas shows in the days immediately preceding Christmas.

"They had a sudden, uncontrollable burst of passion in the several weeks between US Nationals and Valentine's.

Just like 13-yr-old middle schoolers.

Oh wait. Just like Scott Moir and his switching from one GF to another. Just like that. Blink, and they're dating another (just as passionately, hot&heavy, committed, almost-married as the last SO).Bwahahahahaha"

Remember, before Christmas, so those weeks between nationals and V-day were transported to the weeks before Christmas!

The only sources that have flat out said that HD has broken up said it happened "recently", and "before Christmas". This was posted in the Goldenskate forums last week. The other "source" was The Skating Lesson blurting out of the blue that they wanted to fix Zachary with Alissa Csizny. This happened the week before Worlds.

I agree, 2:50, it would all be rather heavy-handed for the reveal of a real relationship.

Also, hypothetically, if they had been over for a very long time and the intent was to make it appear they were still together, why would they start making it known in the run up to worlds and through worlds. Wouldn't you delay until after the season was over with, and not do it before/during the biggest competition of the year, a competition the team needed to do well at?

April 2 at 8:48 am"After the video was posted on FSU on February 13, the very next post was from someone who is associated with HD and the DSC teams saying that Madi will get her wish, Zach not so much."

April 2 at 1:54: "The only sources that have flat out said that HD has broken up said it happened "recently", and "before Christmas". This was posted in the Goldenskate forums last week."

The same person was behind the post on FSU and the post in the FD pbp thread at GS last week. The poster is Mysticchic, who is the photographer Jacque Tiegs.

She has lied on fsu in the past for Zach, denying that he and Piper were a romantic item in their teens while skating together. She has also lied for WP, stating that they're not a couple when they are. Her last post on GS immediately prior to the one about HD in the FD thread was a post in the FD thread for Skate Canada back in the fall, where she stated that WP were not a couple. She has a history of telling fibs for DSC teams when it comes to relationships, including Zach specifically.

TSL did not flat out say that HD had broken up. They implied it by saying they wanted to fix Zach up with Alissa, but they never said "flat out" that HD were no longer together.

Don't know. She brought up that HD were no longer together, but still had great chemistry. Then other posters started asking What? When? blah, blah and she answered that they had broken up recently. That's when mysticchic volunteered that Madi and Diaz began seeing each other before Christmas.

Zach and Maddie have not dated each other for 2 years. Whether they have been "friends with benefits" during that time, I don't know. She was dating a guy in Colorado Springs for a time; she is currently dating the Spanish ice dancer Diaz. He had dated Cathy Reed, is now dating Papadakis.

I love the Shibs. They just seem totally the real shit to me. And considering they aren't, and haven't ever been, the US's number one ranked team they have some great PR, nice sponsorship/collaborative deals (Uniqlo - in my opinion awesome, it's not nike but totally a great fit for them) and don't sound like total robots when they talk about their charitable work. I also get the impression they are well liked by their peers.

I love VM, their skating is the real shit. I just wish they could be more like the Shibs in a lot of ways. What a total shame.

Their exchanges seemed to switch to partner-friend only around that time.

Young couples in long term relationships tend to come to that point where you either know you want to be with someone or want more space. Could be. If that was the case, then Madison and Adria would've began to get close during the weeks between Christmas and Nationals.

8:52, you make a huge assumption over what is actually a very vague tweet that could have been about literally anything. As someone who has followed them for a long time, the exchanges don't actually differ before and after that tweet, until what I believe to be the Valentine's Day sham photo with the flowers. I think you're reading into the exchanges as being partner-friend only because you're making an assumption on that tweet.

Besides, Madison and Zach were Christmas shopping together the next day. This was posted on the instagram account of another Krylova/Camerlengo ice dancer. She curates her instagram, and the original is gone, but I've learned to at least screenshot as she posts.

http://oi60.tinypic.com/1f1x2.jpg

Then, Zach went to her parents with her for Christmas. In your scenario, Zach suddenly ended it on December 20, but then they're out Christmas shopping together the next day? And then off to her parents for the holidays? (Zach has a great aunt in the Detroit area, so he's not without family of his own he could visit for Christmas). To me, that scenario is about as plausible as VM's infamous platonic passion. Madison suddenly gets dumped by Zach after a relationship that's been official for over 3 years, and she's cool with going Christmas shopping together the next day and him still coming to her parents for Christmas? Come on.

"Young couples in long term relationships tend to come to that point where you either know you want to be with someone or want more space."

This is a universal truth, I agree. We don't know that HD have made that decision, but we don't know that they have it. Look at it this way, most of skating fandom, at least online, operates under the impression that Tessa and Scott are platonic skating partners and no more. In reality, they married at 20 and 22 and had their first child at 21 and 23. Tessa and Scott made that decision without skating fandom public knowing. We don't know that HD haven't either. I'm just saying.

" If that was the case, then Madison and Adria would've began to get close during the weeks between Christmas and Nationals."

And exactly how much time would there have been for this in the lead up for US Nationals, where Madison and Zach had desperately wanted to finish 2, and Euros where Spanish HD competed? Besides, that would contradict the story that's been put out there that Madison and Adria have been dating since before Christmas. Spanish HD were doing Christmas gala shows in Spain the days immediately preceding the holiday. Not really plausible for Zach to break things off with Madison on December 20 and her to be dating Adria before Christmas, now is it?

"We don't know that HD have made that decision, but we don't know that they have it."

And that should be we don't know that they have not. The point is, for all we know, HD have made the decision that they're forever, the same way VM did, but it's a decision that skating fandom isn't privy too.

Unless there was another rumor dropped out there on the skating boards or tumblr, the idea that Zach is dating Gabriella is fandom-derived from that video. It's the same thing we've seen time and time again with VM, their sham, and certain members of their fandom. They have some sham knowledge in their heads. They see something else and make up a story about it, and then they decide it's true and run with it. The rumor is out there that HD have broken up. Fans see this video. They make up a story that Zach is now dating Gabriella, and then they decide it's true and run with it. It's sham promotion without the shammers having to lift a finger because fandom is doing it for them.

But look at the smile he gives Cizeron at 0:18.. maybe Zach is dating HIM. Or else it's just a fully pan-sexual quadrangle where everyone sleeps with everyone?

Yeah, I'm with the person who says HD are shamming. Only they are not very good at it so they're sending mixed messages. When you start having to believe stuff like they have an open relationship or they're just such good friends that they can still write I love you to each other right after they've broken up and are dating others... that's too much mental twisting to make something make sense, and I've been through that with VM already.

Last night, someone brought up the subject of HD and long term commitment. To that end, there are some interesting photos from late last summer and a couple from the fall.

If you go back through Madison's twitter and instagram, she and Zach went to a wedding reception in Colorado Springs when they were there together last June for rehab, testing, and training at the OTC.

https://twitter.com/MadiHubbell/status/478329739627614208

It could have been banter with a fan, but I think it's interesting she said she would have fought for the bouquet. Like a woman who's ready to get married.

If you go back through Zach's twitter, there's a tweet on August 6, 2012 saying that it's officially been a year with his baby.

https://twitter.com/ZachTDonohue/status/232480066091773953

So, their dating anniversary is August 6. August 6, 2014 was 3 years.

On August 8, they did an appearance at a Relay for Life event. There are photos of it on their facebook page, Zach's twitter and instagram, and another fb page for the event, and she had a ring on her left ring finger. In photos prior to that, she's had costume looking pieces on her left middle finger, but never a ring on the left ring finger and never a ring like this ring. This is a nice and not inexpensive looking piece of jewelry.

http://twitter.com/ZachTDonohue/status/497875547448676352

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BujPKNFIAAAVlN2.jpg:large

And if you blow it up, it looks a lot like an engagement ring.

From Zach's instagram--

https://instagram.com/p/riEeQAA5Ap/

A blow up of the ring--http://oi58.tinypic.com/ilhfk5.jpg

It looks like a diamond in the middle.

This is from their team fb page--www.facebook.com/114550398642724/photos/pb.114550398642724.-2207520000.1427905240./616910105073415/?type=3&permPage=1

There are a lot of pics in the set, but you can see the side profile of the ring in this one-- https://www.facebook.com/koolkonceptsphotography/photos/a.700008366719209.1073741877.231614126891971/700009653385747/?type=3&src=https%3A%2F%2Fscontent-mia.xx.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-xft1%2Fv%2Ft1.0-9%2F10524589_700009653385747_4537799040547244058_n.jpg%3Foh%3D7c935e46c130d012b93b3961d52a88f9%26oe%3D55A377F4&size=800%2C533&fbid=700009653385747

And you can see it pretty clearly here too-- https://www.facebook.com/koolkonceptsphotography/photos/a.700008366719209.1073741877.231614126891971/700009916719054/?type=3&src=https%3A%2F%2Fscontent-mia.xx.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-xfp1%2Fv%2Ft1.0-9%2F10294229_700009916719054_3477822806811258792_n.jpg%3Foh%3D60f33dcf737471cad7c1f66067b7c2d0%26oe%3D55A07105&size=800%2C533&fbid=700009916719054

A couple of weeks later, there was a family reunion with some of his mom's relatives who seem to live in Michigan, including a great aunt. Does anyone else find it unusual how Zach isn't so much holding Madi's left hand but covering it with his?

This is from September when some of the skaters were celebrating Alexandra Paul's birthday. This is from Anastasia Olson's instagram.

https://instagram.com/p/tMDT6eJxfV/

Ring circled--

http://oi59.tinypic.com/1zlrfh3.jpg

Madison's left hand is mostly blown out in this one, but it looks like there's something on her left ring finger. You can see a darker line across that finger--

https://instagram.com/p/veDzVog5Kq/

So, if that ring is what it appears to be, were they originally planning on announcing an engagement after the season was over or did they plan to hide it the whole time? Is their a taboo against ice dancers admitting marriage or plans to marry now?

I just rewatched valse trieste, and then watched Pap/Ciz. Am I living in the twilight zone? I have nothing against Pap/Ciz. I think they are a promising... JUNIOR... team. But still they are promising. He's not totally pulling her across the ice like with chock bates. Weaver and Poje are great, but they are no pechalat. I always thought pechalat team was only team to really challenge VM. esp with some of their lifts and synchronicity. it's really unreal what's happening. is pap/ciz just gtg lucky? bc it's not politicking like davis white. what the hell is going on!

When Zach's mom took to facebook to loudly advertise his being home by himself, I expected that there would be something to come that would be meant to put Madison far, far away from him. There it is now, with that photo. I'd bet that there will be something appearing to place Diaz in the same location. I'm wondering if they'll just imply it, or if they've gone all in like the trips that Scott has been sent on with sham girlfriends.

Madison tagged Diaz in the photo, and he liked the picture. The jest is they were vacationing together.

Zach's mom is just showing off her kid. He hadn't visited in a long time and he's coming back after doing well at Worlds. If she shows that he's not in some depressed stupor over Madison even better. He's been introspective for sure though.

Well, there you go. Such a lovely Easter gift for the HD fandom. She didn't have him tagged earlier. Had to make sure the implication was there. It's still early, but maybe we'll be spared Jess-and-Scott in the Dominican-style photos.

Those tweets Zach favorited remind me of the positive/inspirational saying that Jessica was putting on pinterest when the VM sham was resetting from her to Cassandra in 2012.

We ought to start a monthly contest to decide who's been shammier on social media-- Tessa or Madison.

"Not only that, after a hot passionate tropical vacation with lover-boy she's happy to be going back home. #soromantic"

Hah!

Such a different reaction from her when she had to stay in Colorado for a few days by herself to finish off post Champs Camp rehab at the OTC. Zach had stayed with her for most of it.

https://instagram.com/p/sfPTi0hdjk/?taken-by=splashmadison

https://instagram.com/p/sfP4O7g5Lz/?taken-by=zachtdonohue

Zach had to go home on September 3.

September 7, both were instagramming a day on the lake in Michigan. I'm guessing she didn't fly in on the 7th and go straight to the lake, so there were only 2 whole days in there they didn't see each other at all. 2 days without Zach=worst thing ever. But totally ready to go home after hot romantic getaway with new, long-distance bf!

" Isn't it a little cruel to ask poor Zach if he's missing the annual Hubbell Easter Egg hunt and then tag Madison's mom?" Guessing someone didn't get the memo :-D The Hubbells and Donahues are amateurs at this - gotta get everyone (including the neighbours and your grandma's hairdresser's best friend's second cousin twice removed) on the same page.

Geez, leave the guy alone. I'm beginning to think the whole We're best friends, Best partner ever is damage control to protect Madison. The guy nurses her through the worst two years of her life, and when she's finally strong it's Hello Adria. That's not gonna look good no matter what, it's a waste of time to try to bs people.

3:00 pm, to buy the timeline that has been put out there, that Madison has been dating Diaz since "sometime before Christmas" requires an alternate dimension of time to work. It is just like anything with VM's sham, it falls to pieces.

VM have and continue to be called out for their shamming. It's the same thing with HD now. They get called out too, same as VM.

Your post does highlight one of the problems with sham. It can make certain persons involved look terrible. It certainly has VM and those involved in their sham, and the same for HD and those involved in their sham.

" the whole We're best friends, Best partner ever is damage control to protect Madison."

But that wasn't what it was. It was I love you, You are My World, hanging out and cooking for each others' families... a very clearly romantic relationship. Making it sound like just "best partner ever" is rewriting history.

I get that athletes are often in a state of arrested development but this thing with the mothers and the aunts and the cousins?? Skaters have got some seriously over-invested families. Scott and Tessa should trademark the Sham Handbook and charge people to use it.

It's been suggested that VM wanted to keep their personal lives private during one of the biggest years (Olympic) of their career, and then subsequently winning the Olympics and being thrust into a pretty big spotlight (as far as figure skating stars goes) might be part of why they continued to sham. So, what's the deal with HD? Why bother putting it very clearly out there that you are in love with your partner, that your partner is your whole entire world and then when you decide to get married (if marriage is the impetus for HD's sham) start to sham? HD are definitely not as high profile as VM... I wonder if HD see a sham benefiting their career in some way, but how? Why?

I don't agree with VM and the sham, but at least we can say VM never said out loud (yes, actions speak louder than words sometimes, but still), we're in love before jumping headlong into this crazy sham.

In some ways, damage has already been done when it comes to HD - you told us you were a couple, you let us into some really private conversations about how much you love each other, and now all of a sudden you want to start shamming? After we have already heard it, from your own mouths, that you're a couple?

"It's been suggested that VM wanted to keep their personal lives private during one of the biggest years (Olympic) of their career, and then subsequently winning the Olympics and being thrust into a pretty big spotlight"

In the years after Vancouver it's become quite clear VM's motivation cannot be about privacy. Not when they're willing to let cameras follow them around for a whole season and in many other ways they don't have a problem "sharing" their private lives. Sure, all that sharing (TV show) is scripted but still, it all adds up to not being the "private people" it's been thought of in the past.

So if it's not a privacy issue with VM, then whatever is motivating them to continue way beyond the point of common sense might very well be why HD are beginning to go down that same road. It doesn't appear to be about shyness or fear of being a real couple in public, since they already did that.

So then -- what the hell is up with both VM and HD? And BTW, I would add WP as another couple claiming this special platonic passion that anyone in their right mind knows is BS. It's too coincidental they are all ice dancers in elite/possible-elite standing within the ISU, an extremely corrupt organization.

I remember a few a years ago a poster (I don't remember who it was) said that they had access to a lot of skaters' facebook accounts. This person said she found it weird how the teams who weren't dating would try to look "couply" while the teams who actually were a couple tried to look like they were dating other people.

That's figure skating for you. There are obvious advantages to being public about a relationship but a number of skaters think it isn't worth the extra scrutiny from the FS community. Not to mention they can have some fun with the people who think they know all about them and are all up in their business.

They're kaput. It's easy to phib things in Instagram. HD were probably advised to (mislead) keep people out of it whenever things were unraveling between them. After enough time passed, or one of them started to date someone new, they stopped the pretend. How coincidental is it that Madi went with Adria, the guy who they kept running into the entire fall? If she'd started seeing Morozov, it would be like, when did that happen? But there was plenty of opportunity to ignite a connection there between Skate Canada, TEB and Golden Spin, plus perhaps activities for David Baden's group.

HD have to keep a strong bond to perform well so it's not surprising that they'd try to salvage a friendly rapport. It's probably not easy but they have to.

3:48, I have a bridge for sale with blocked access lanes if you'd like to buy it.

One of the flaws in your premise is the timing. If HD had broken up and been advised to hide things, they would have been advised to hide things through the end of the season, especially worlds. When it comes to pr, you take out the trash when no one is looking, not when everyone is looking. You don't do it in and around the biggest event that happens in your sport in non-Olympic years when there is going to be more attention than at any other time of the year.

"HD have to keep a strong bond to perform well so it's not surprising that they'd try to salvage a friendly rapport. It's probably not easy but they have to."

You probably also believe in platonic passion and that lip bumps are just a hazard of skating too close when you're an ice dancer.

"The guy nurses her through the worst two years of her life, and when she's finally strong it's Hello Adria."

This. Fans have unreal expectations about skaters sometimes when in reality they're just flawed people like everybody else. I love this team's skating. I hope that Madison can kick ass the next three years. I worry for Zach since he lost two years waiting for her to get better. I guess it would have been hard to find another partner, but I just hope he doesn't have to regret waiting.

Well, I took your advice OC and watched P/C Worlds Gold medal performance back to back with Valse Triste. It was beyond depressing. My 10yr old watched P/C with me and his comments -unprompted- pointed to unsteady legs during lifts, hugely out of synch twizzles and skating was also out of synch. There is no element of beauty to their skating. I also watched C/B which are seriously DW part 2...there's legs and arms flying everywhere. Both CB and PC skate SO far from each otherand are hardly ever in synch and they hardly create beautiful lines...their lifts are boring actually the entire skate was boring. If my 10yr old can recognize terrible skating and judges can't there a huge issue there. He did enjoy WePo though. Feel so bad for VM. I don't blame them for leaving but skating fans are the losers too-garbage being forced on us and missing out on what VM could have done.

YES thank you. I too did that. And if you turn the sound off and just watch the skating it's even crazier. carmen should have garnered 200 points if these programs are being rewarded. i cant even comment on the lifts. without vm there is no more progress there. i honestly couldnt identify the lifts in PC program.

I would be very surprised if this was true but D/L are amazing coaches so hopefully they will improve H/D's packaging. Its probably getting too crowded at DCS for their liking and maybe they want to distance themselves from H/B.

As for the funding, they are on the national team so they must be getting enough funding to make a coaching change if they decide to do so.

Other than potential political gains from being with the World Champions coaches, I don't see other benefits. Camerlengo and Krylova have developed HD nicely, even through Madison's injuries. Also, I think Zach plans to be a choreographer and has a great mentor/student relationship with Pasquale.

Sounds like he's grateful for a true friend. There could be a subtle FU to Madison in there though, as in "I've got roots that go a lot further back than you and me missy, and they're remain strong" ;p

It's also something to watch fans display the same behavior with this that they do the VM sham, taking everything at face value and not checking to see if things add up, or ignoring if they don't. Golden Skate posters are already running with the Madi and Adria have been dating since December, except it's impossible if you go back and look at what happened in the real world.

It's unfortunate that something like, concocting a sham to go along with a coaching change, is what it takes to keep a team with the talent of HD relevant to skating fans.

I think Adria was or is being used as a distraction at least while changing coaches. I also suspect that Madison and Zach are marrying this summer, and depending on if they want that to ultimately be public or not or when they want it to be public if they want it to be at some point, shamming could continue.

My guess is that after the fall when they didn't make the GPF although they should have, HD had two plans going into nationals. Plan A was to finish second and go to worlds and finish 5th. Plan B was coaching change. Plan A didn't go so well. The FD was not close to HD at their best, but they were robbed in the SD. They should have been neck-and-neck with the Shibutanis after that segment, not 6 or 7 points behind them. HD barely managed third when they wanted second. They were passed over for 4CC. It was right after nationals that the shamming first started. Shamming with someone from the training camp they're moving to. Shamming with someone who shares an agent with them.

To buy their sham as the truth, it now requires buying that, based on the video of watching Javi's sp, saddest and most heartbroken man in the world Zach Donohue would be willing to move to Montreal where Madison could be near her new boyfriend who she suddenly started dating "before Christmas" after having abruptly broke up with Zach in December after a 3+ year serious relationship OR where she could be near her new boyfriend who she spent several months cheating on Zach with before he found out what was up thanks to an instagram photo of flowers that she tagged Adria in. Any of these situations makes Zach look like the biggest doormat in the history of the world and Zach isn't a doormat.

Over the years, this blog has done a great job explaining how easy it is to pull of shams with social media, so I'm not going to go back over that again. What remains to be seen is was this just temporary to distract from what was really happening, a coaching change? Is it temporary and meant to distract from the coaching change and potentially through a wedding ceremony sometime this summer? Or, is it meant to be longer term sham to hide marriage/relationship for some reason.

That was a nice double-double for them there in light of the coaching change.

We'll rephrase this. The first sham we saw on social media was the photo of Madi with her brother Keiffer and Adria in the yoga studio Keiffer teaches in. It was posted January 28, but because of timing, it would have had to have been made prior to HD leaving for nationals on January 20. The Montreal teams going to Euros left while HD would have still been in Greensboro. 1-23-15 was the day of the SD at nationals.

I think after the way the fall went with how they were scored and being robbed of the GPF spot, HD went to nationals prepared for two outcomes and had game plans ready whichever way it went. I think their first plan was to achieve the goals they had set. Go to nationals and finish top 2, go back to 4CC, and then go to worlds and finish top 5. I think the other plan, if they didn't meet those goals, was to change coaches. We all know what happened at nationals. The FD was not their best skate, but they were badly underscored in the SD. They barely make it into third, and then they get passed up for the 4CC berth, which was a berth needed to set themselves up for worlds in terms of politics and ranking points.

You can't just move to Canada on a whim. It takes some planning. They're their already there and already training. They were in Montreal to train 2 weeks after the end of worlds. This coaching change was all a done deal before HD left for Shanghai. The Adria sham emerged at the exact same time that they would have been setting this coaching change up. To me, that says the two are directly related to each other. It's cover for something related to this move.

With the drop about the Spanish thing, it's really very clever. If their first plan works out and they finish in the top 2 and decide to stay in Detroit or at least postpone a decision on a coaching change, it's a perfectly innocent hobby to mention. Lots of people learn languages. In fact, learning languages is one of Zach's hobbies. There are at least 3 or 4 he seems to know at least something about. If they have to go with the plan to change coaches, in the context of other things to come later, it becomes a little piece of sham dropped into an article, just like all of VM's little pieces of sham they've dropped into interviews over the years.

Actually, this kind of reminds me a bit of how Cassandra was introduced as Scott's sham girlfriend. This entry from November 2012 talks about how Cassandra was introduced as the sham gf. http://dubemoir.blogspot.com/2012/11/let-me-say-this-about-that.html

Later on, through various social media post, sham predating the official launch was found. There were photos planted earlier in the fall and late summer of Scott with Cassandra as well as Tessa with Ryan Semple, who everyone had thought had disappeared. (Do they keep Semple on stand-by, ready to launch as sham bf at any time?) The learning Spanish mention was like one of those photos, except easy for it to be nothing at all if they didn't need it to be something.

To play devil's advocate, the change of coaches may predate even Nationals, H/D managed to arrange it all in secrecy. Notice that the media reporting the news don't mention their personal relationship status at all. If the purpose of creating a fake Diaz relationship was to steal attention from whatever, it failed. The reports are all business.

Madison introduced Diaz as the new guy with the Instagram posts, then fed info to TSL and friends on GS just in time before Worlds because she knew they'd get caught by cameras in Shanghai, either backstage or around the city.

3:16, I understand that you're playing devil's advocate, but the things you're throwing out don't hold up or make a lot of sense if you really think about it.

"the change of coaches may predate even Nationals, H/D managed to arrange it all in secrecy. "

Yes, it's true that they managed to arrange it all in secrecy, but it makes no sense that they would have had it all arranged *before* nationals and then have stayed through the end of the season. HD's first goal of the season was to qualify for the GPF. Then they went to Golden Spin and eeked out a win over a team they are much better than. I can buy them being concerned enough at this point that they might start considering whether a different coaching situation might be better able to help them reach their career goals. But let's say they're so sure at this point that their current coaches will not be able to help them reach their career goals that they decided they're done with Krylova and Camerlengo and will be finding different coaches. The skating season tends to get divided into two parts. There's the early half with the Senior B's and GP series, culminating in the GPF. Then, there are the various nationals, 4CC/Euros, and Worlds that all comprise the later back half of the season. If at the end of the first half of the season you think for sure that the current coaches aren't going to help you reach your goals, then why stay with them through the entire second half of the season when you have the coaching change already arranged before nationals? Especially when nationals doesn't go your way at all, you end up barely in 3rd instead of the 2nd you wanted and get passed up for the 4CC assignment? If you have a new coaching situation ready to go and 2 whole months to go until worlds, don't you want to do all that you can to try to salvage what's left of your goals for the season and get yourself into your new coaching situation asap? Coaching changes require some thought, discussion between both parties, and at least a short trial of seeing how the potential coach/student relationship would work in practice training on the ice. But, if it's all set to go before nationals, then there's no reason to not make the move after nationals.

Coaching changes during the season are rare but not unheard of. Notably, Kimmie Meissner changed coaches from Pam Gregory to Richard Callaghan right after nationals in 2008 when she didn't skate so well herself. Gracie Gold moved to Frank Carroll in 2013 after the 13-14 season was already underway. Madison herself, when she skated with her brother, changed coaches right after TEB in 2009 because they felt that the coaches they had prior to Krylova and Camerlengo weren't going to be able to help them meet their goals for the rest of the season.

There's also this. It would have been super awkward to continue training through nationals, hypothetically 4CC, and then worlds if they knew you were leaving at the end of the season. That makes you think if the coaching change predated worlds, it would have involved keeping it secret from Krylova and Camerlengo too. There wouldn't have really been a chance in there in the lead up to nationals for HD to have had the time to secretly sneak off to Montreal to test things out with DL without Krylova and Camerlengo knowing they were off somewhere.

Anyway, for multiple reasons, it makes less than zero sense to have the coaching change set before nationals and for HD to have remained at the DSC through the end of the season with the way nationals ended up playing out. They did get the worlds spot, barely, but the even played out far from how they wanted it to. I do buy that a coaching change was a planned option to pursue if nationals didn't go according to the preferred stated-goals met plan. It requires mental gymnastics to buy that they had a coaching change finalized before nationals, had two months between nationals and worlds, and after the way nationals went for them, they didn't go to Montreal then to prepare for worlds, electing instead to stay with coaches they didn't think were going to help them meet long term goals.

"Notice that the media reporting the news don't mention their personal relationship status at all. If the purpose of creating a fake Diaz relationship was to steal attention from whatever, it failed. The reports are all business."

There actually really hasn't been a lot of the media reporting the news. Let's review the "coverage" of this. There were a few random remarks on message boards Saturday that HD were going to train in Canada. Saturday night, Skate Today tweets that they'd heard it was announced at a fundraiser at the DSC Friday night that HD were going to train in Canada. They follow up with a short little write-up that basically says nothing and just speculates they weren't happy with 10th at worlds. There's an Italian sports website that parroted what Skate Today said. Monday, USFS put out an official press release which was posted mostly verbatim on Icenetwork the same day. That press release contained next to no information. There are a couple of quotes from HD thanking their old coaches and stating they were excited to see where that foundation would take them with DL. There has been nothing said at all about motivation for the move. Forget personal reasons, nothing has even really been stated by HD at all about their exact motivations for the move to DL.

" If the purpose of creating a fake Diaz relationship was to steal attention from whatever, it failed."

This statement reminds me of a lot of the statements that have been made about VM's sham over the years. "If the purpose of VM doing X, Y, or Z was to accomplish this, then it failed." We know VM sham. We know what X, Y, and Z look like to us (idiotically stupid most of the time with VM). But even if something looks like a fail to us, it may not look like a fail to the shammers, whether that be VM or HD, because we're only guessing at the intent of the shams.

"Madison introduced Diaz as the new guy with the Instagram posts, then fed info to TSL and friends on GS just in time before Worlds because she knew they'd get caught by cameras in Shanghai, either backstage or around the city."

This is just silly and smacks of not paying attention to the million conversations on this blog over the years circling around why reports of VM's real life don't make it to social media as well as a lack of understanding about how pr works.

First, Shanghai is the largest country in China. The entire municipality has a population of over 24 million and the urban population is close to 22 million. If I'm out and about touring Shanghai, I'm going to think that the odds are I'm not going to get spotted and photographed by fans who run back to social media and post said photos and reports. In fact, what photos from Shanghai we have seen of the principle players in the HD sham have come from people who are friendly with the skaters who were sightseeing with them or playing tour guide. Please remember all of the times we've discussed photography and the VM Sham, how quick it is to pose for a photograph and drop it out there. How little time it really takes, especially if it's just seconds in a big group outing.

OC has also time and time again pointed out that when a skater is in the arena at a competition, they're in public and they're "on". Whether they're on the ice, backstage, or sitting in the stands to watch other skaters, it's all public. These skaters all know that fans are watching to see which skaters show up in the stands. They know that these fans take photos and videos of skaters in the stands and share them about the internet. Scott Moir is certainly far from being the only skater who has an awareness of when a camera is on them.

Fans can be a useful tool in shams because they can spread gossip that shammers want spread. Think about the launch of the first round of Ryan Semple as Tessa's sham bf. They launched him by sitting him in the stands with Kate Virtue at SC in 2011, and then set up some stuff of he and Tessa sitting together in the stands during the non ice dance events. HD were aware that fans would be at worlds. They were aware they'd primed the the rumor mill in advance, increasing the odds of someone looking to see what they saw. They set up a scene to act out during the men's SP. VM have staged "in the stands" sham acts, and HD did too at worlds.

This also bears repeating. If HD had really broken up and Madison had really started dating Diaz, then it would have been a "take out the trash" situation. You take out the trash when no one is looking, not everyone, and you also do it in a controlled way to make sure that everyone comes out looking clean. As as been pointed out, the way all of this comes across is that Madison is a cheater, Adria unscrupulous, and Zach a doormat. If the scenario was true, actions would have been taken to make sure that they didn't look that way. In the dead of the off season, they would have put it out that HD had broken up. Then they would have let some more time pass before letting it be known that either one was dating anyone else. It wouldn't have been done like this. It's actually easy to keep personal stuff hidden from fans and off social media. Despite the prevalent fan theory that skaters can't control themselves, they actually, in fact, can. If HD had really broken up and she really was dating Adria, it wouldn't have been an inevitable situation of being caught on cameras in the venue or out in the city in Shanghai. It would have been a matter of behaving in a way not get caught during worlds (which, really, is quite an easy thing to do) and waiting to go public on a PR-savvy timescale in a PR-savvy way so as not to make everyone involved look terrible in some way.

Of course, the true crux of the Madi/Adria thing is that any scenario explaining how it came to be doesn't hold water.

Why a distraction? To attempt to change the focus from running scared from a younger team they've been training with to there being other reasons for the move.

"The supposed "sham" makes everyone involved look terrible, Madi-cheater, Zach-doormat, Adria-unscrupulous. How does that elevate their stock in ice dancing?"

Have you not spent any time on skating message boards? They're largely a drama-loving, gossip-mongering lot and they eat this sort of bad character drama up with a spoon. These people lament the old days of ice dance skandal. HD have been dubbed boring. To a lot on the boards, this is going to make them interesting characters when they weren't previously. Sometimes, negative attention is better than no attention at all.

Our old friend Cassandra made it out of Miss Universe Western Ontario in the top five and will be vying at the national level to represent Canada in the Miss Universe pageant! I am literally so disappointed that we never got to see Scott sit through a pageant to support his girlfriend. Better or worse than curling?

5:57I will always wonder if the VM connections played a role. They all probably knew this competition was a goal for her and Miss Hilborn continues to use her Scott Moir connection on social media. Her stint as his girlfriend is part of her unofficial resume. What a great perk for her.

The sham doesn't exist. It's just something created by one very sick individual. If Tessa is getting married, it's not fake and will be to her boyfriend that she's been with since 2011. She and Scott are not married and neither has children. Time to grow up and leave lalaland.

5:38: a wedding is a publicly documented event, especially in this day and age. There will be an announcement of some kind, photos and maybe even a magazine spread somewhere, which I'm sure Tessa would love to do. There is no way a person would fake a wedding. Do you know how expensive weddings are? And who is going to come to this fake wedding? Nest time please think rationally.

Scott gained weight/looked out out shape for close to 4 months, he went to Japan, he isn't wearing his cross, Tessa looks smaller than she has in a while, they aren't doing summer shows (first time since 2008, minus the pre-Olympic season summer), and they aren't competing in the fall. None of these things are weird or concerning to you who believe they are lying about their relationship?

It's about having tact. A long relationship ended. Any person, anyone forced to deal with their ex and new bf on a daily basis would be uncomfortable on some level. I think wanting to appear chummy in public is an inconsiderate and/or manipulative move.

There's certainly no evidence that Montreal is a superior training environment for a team of their ability, but I'm willing to wait and see what those coaches do with teams (H/D too) that are more talented than the ones they had last season.

On the political end, D/L are powerful right now which had to be part of the equation... although I wonder if Skate Canada pushed this because they seem obsessed with Canadian training centres. The Montreal bonus points can't be given to every team, so it seems like Igor or Marina might have been more a smarter choice, unless they were encouraged in this direction.

12:43I also thought of that possibility - that SC had a big say in motivating PI to move to Montreal. But what about the American team HD? I'm still not seeing a very different, or better, advantage to their move.

I'm just curious how those who still believe VM are engaging in sham relationships feel about the recent developments. Scott has spend a rather large amount of time with Kaitlyn Lawes, going to Japan to support her during her world championships and appearing at most of her major tournaments this past winter/spring. That's a lot of time away from home for such a loving father/husband, no? I'd say that eventually you guys will have to admit you were wrong or at least concede that if Tessa and Scott were in a relationship, it's over.

I agree. Maybe some things over the past year/6 months have been a diversion because of a separation or divorce. It's difficult to believe Scott would let himself gain a noticeable amount of weight if he was living with Tessa (especially as she was sliming down at this time). Really wonder too why they aren't doing summer shows.

It amazes me that people think that VM are such outstanding actors. I have watched Scott kids Tessa's knee during complicated lifts, kiss and play with her hair...touch her ass, rub her knee on and on and on and on and on and on and on. Freak. Why isn't Hollywood beating down their friggen' door ---ugh

Have you seen pro ballet or contemporary dancers? They also kiss and rub each other like no big deal. For God's sake, even French world champs are kissing in their FD and we all know Cizeron is gay. Acting, that's right

I wouldn't call it acting, I'd call it performing. It's entertainment for the fans and maybe a little harmless fun for them (they're skating to Good Kisser, they like to tease each other and fans). They are comfortable and familiar with each other so they have boundaries they know they shouldn't cross.

I meant on the ICE- things they do that are visible to us fans while they are skating- they know which boundaries they are comfortable with approaching. For example, they don't kiss straight on the mouth and if they do, they don't use their lips. Tessa usually has hers drawn in a little. That's what I mean.

I don't know or care about what they have or haven't done off ice. Except that at this moment Scott is dating a curler.